Whereas some view conceptual change as referring to a change from existing ideas to new ones, we suggest that new ideas are often developed in parallel with existing ones. The new ideas are rooted in different values and beliefs—those of the scientific community rather than those guiding our daily lives.

6.

Chi, 1992.

7.

Galili and Hazan, 2000.

8.

Our decision to focus on instruction in which investigation is central reflects the national standard that calls for science instruction to be inquiry based.

9.

We use the term “guided” inquiry to signal that the teacher plays a prominent role in shaping the inquiry experience, guiding student thinking and activity to enable desired student learning from investigation.

All of the instruction featured in this chapter was conducted by teachers who were a part of GIsML Community of Practice, a multiyear professional development effort aimed at identifying effective practice for inquiry-based science teaching.

13.

This discussion draws on a study focused on children’s self-regulation during science instruction, which took place in a school in a relatively small district (about 4,600 students) that includes a state university. Approximately 45 percent of the students in this district pass the state standardized tests, and 52 percent are economically disadvantaged.

14.

This class is in a school in a relatively small district (about 3,000 students) near a major industrial plant in a town with a state university. Approximately 38 percent of the students in this district pass the state standardized tests, and 63 percent are economically disadvantaged.

15.

While we are featuring contexts in which there is a single question, teachers could choose to have a context in which children are investigating different questions related to the same phenomenon. However, it is important to recognize the substantially greater cognitive and procedural demands this approach places on the teacher, so it is not something we recommend if a teacher is inexperienced in conducting inquiry-based instruction.

16.

Although it can be motivating and conceptually beneficial for students to be placed in the role of generating questions for investigation, the teacher needs to be mindful of the consequences of taking time to investigate questions that may be trivial or peripheral to the unity of study. The teacher may judge the time to be useful as students can still learn a great deal about investigation, but

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10 Teaching to Promote the Development of Scientific Knowledge and Reasoning About Light at the Elementary School Level ."
How Students Learn: History, Mathematics, and Science in the Classroom . Washington, DC: The National Academies Press,
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Important Notice

As of 2013, the National Science Education Standards have been replaced by the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), available as a print book, free PDF download, and online with our OpenBook platform.